1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to aroma-generating devices for wafting into the atmosphere a pleasant scent or other aroma, and more particularly to an aroma-generating miniature capsule which is adhesively attachable to the surface of an incandescent light bulb to be activated by heat emanating from the bulb.
2. Prior Art
As used herein, the term "aroma" is not limited to pleasant or savory smells, but encompasses scents that function as insecticides, air fresheners, deodorants or any other odor that acts to condition, modify or otherwise charge the atmosphere.
The aroma of perfumes and perfume-based products such as colognes and toilet waters was originally derived from the essential oil of plants. However, since the early 19th century, chemists have succeeded in analyzing many essential oils and in creating thousands of synthetics, some simulating natural products and others yielding altogether new scents. Perfumes today are largely blends of natural and synthetic scents and of fixatives which equalize vaporization and enhance pungency. In most liquid scents the ingredients are combined with alcohol.
An incandescent light bulb is an inefficient converter of electrical to light energy, for a substantial portion of the electrical energy is transformed into non-visible heat. It is for this reason that light bulbs are sometimes used as heat sources in vaporizers for suffusing a vapor into the atmosphere surrounding the bulb having medicinal, disinfecting or perfuming qualities.
Thus the Schuh U.S. Pat. No. 1,920,599 discloses a slotted disc formed of porous filter paper impregnated with a volatile solution, the disc fitting onto a light bulb. Heat radiated from the bulb brings about rapid vaporization of the impregnant. When the disc is exhausted, it may be removed from the bulb and discarded.
In the Huff U.S. Pat. No. 2,591,818, a light bulb is mounted at the base of a chimney to produce an upwardly-flowing stream of heated air which passes through a wicking element impregnated with a vaporizable liquid. In the Eisner U.S. Pat. No. 2,372,371, a porous pad saturated with a deodorant is held in a small container mounted directly on an electric light bulb. Similar bulb arrangements to promote vaporization are disclosed in the Guderman U.S. Pat. No. 1,403,548, and in the Schlesinger U.S. Pat. No. 2,437,756. All of these prior art bulb-activated aroma generators are more or less complex and relatively expensive.
Also of background interest are my prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,277,024; 4,346,059; 4,493,011; 4,283,011, as well as the patent to Lindenberg, U.S. Pat. No. 2,615,754.
A practical drawback encountered in heretofore known forms of aroma generators that include a liquid-impregnated pad in heat exchange relationship with a light bulb is that the heat emanating from the bulb is excessive even with a low wattage bulb. As a consequence, the liquid impregnant in the capsule is quickly volatilized and the aroma generator is effective for only a few minutes.